Software Installation Policy
| Applies to: | Original Policy Date: | Date of Last Review: | Approved By: |
|---|---|---|---|
| University staff, faculty, visiting faculty, students, alumni, contractors, volunteers, guests or agents of the administration, and external individuals and organizations accessing network services. | January 1, 2018 |
June 2024 |
John Nicklow |
Policy Purpose
To protect university equipment and network resources and comply with applicable law, this policy governs installation of software on university-owned computers.
Policy Scope
This policy applies to all software installation on university-owned hardware, and all users of the University network services, including, but not limited to, staff, faculty, visiting faculty, students, alumni, contractors, volunteers, guests or agents of the administration, and external individuals and organizations accessing network services.
The IT (Information Technology) office is responsible for installing software on university-owned computers. These computers include office desktop computers, laptop computers, classroom, and lab computers. The computer hardware must be in good operating condition and meet minimum software requirements defined by the software vendor so that IT staff can best accomplish the installation of said software.
Policy Statement
All installations of software on university-owned equipment must adhere to the applicable software license and/or guidelines published by the vendor and/or governing authority. Software may not be installed on university-owned equipment without proper licensing or other form of documented consent from the vendor.
All software in classrooms and labs must be installed by the Office of Information Technology or its designee staff assigned to maintaining the equipment. Only Office of Information Technology staff or designees shall have administrative rights to install software.
All software is installed according to the End-User License Agreement (EULA) provided by the vendor. The computer user assumes responsibility for reading and understanding the EULA.
Software will not be installed if it is deemed that system security will be adversely affected by the software or if it requires adverse changes in the system's general security to run. This determination is at the discretion of the Office of Information Technology.
Software may not be installed in the common access teaching labs unless it is to be used to directly support a class. The Open Computing Labs are the appropriate locations for this type of request. The list of Open Computing Labs can be found at https://it.fit.edu/student-resources/computing/.
Software will not be installed in the following scenarios
- Demo, trial, or unlicensed shareware software
- Pirated software
- Personally owned for home use or software not registered to Florida Tech
- Software in which the EULA is violated in any way
Procedures/Guidelines
Proof of license or acceptable documentation of manufacturer/copyright owner consent must be provided to the Office of Information Technology before software installation. All software licenses must include maintenance and support contracts.
Any software not currently installed must be requested through the Office of Information Technology by submitting a Service Request two weeks prior to needing the software.
While IT will make every effort to resolve any issues that may arise due to the installation of new software with the assistance of the software vendors, the staff may be unable to get a specific piece of software to work. It is the responsibility of the employee to determine if the software will run on the university owned computer prior to purchase. The computer user can contact IT through a Software Installation Service Request for assistance to ascertain if the computer resources meet software minimum requirements prior to purchase.
Responsibilities
The Office of Information Technology is responsible for checking for proper licensing prior to installing software and is legally required to remove or disconnect any system that does not adhere to this policy.
The Office of Sponsored Programs oversees the restrictions of Export Control Classifications and has identified certain software titles to be restricted from installation on university owned computers used in certain countries/regions. A list of commonly requested software installation and their EULA agreements can be found in the Technology Support knowledge base https://help.fit.edu/TDClient/
Users of university-owned hardware are responsible for adhering to this policy and directing requests for software installation to the Office of Information Technology.
Users of university-owned software are responsible for adhering to the type of vendor licensing. Software licensing that is restricted to academics only may not be used for profit commercial research.
Enforcement
Failure to adhere to this policy may result in appropriate disciplinary actions, including disconnection from network services, revocation of administrative access, and/or removal of the affected hardware software titles. Employees or students who violate or attempt to circumvent this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.